Swellable materials have been used to assist in setting seals or as seals themselves in various industries. Such materials are capable of generating a contact force against a nearby a structure which is capable of either of the noted uses of setting or sealing, or in some cases both, when exposed to a swelling fluid reactive with the swelling material.
Swelling can occur through absorption or chemical reaction. In applications where a higher degree of swelling, for either purpose is needed, difficulty has been experienced as sufficient volumetric change has not been reliably achievable and in addition when higher volumetric change is attempted, the material itself loses physical integrity thus compromising the ultimate goal of the application.